LONDON, UK: Anglo Asian Mining Plc, the AIM listed gold, copper and silver producer focused in Azerbaijan, announced the start of an expansion of its flotation plant, which will be doubled in capacity, and provide additional operational flexibility.

The expansion forms part of Anglo Asian’s increase in throughput capacity to process ore from new mines in the short and medium term. This will begin with Zafar, which is due to commence production in H2 2023. It will support the Company’s ambition to become a mid-tier miner producing over 100,000 gold equivalent ounces per annum.

The total cost of the expansion has been estimated at $2.5 million, which will be paid from the Company’s existing cash resources.

Reza Vaziri, Chief Executive Officer of Anglo Asian Mining, commented: “Anglo Asian is at the beginning of its next phase of growth, as we prepare to bring a number of new mines into production. The development of our medium-term growth strategy is well underway and we need to increase our processing capabilities to accommodate additional ore production.

“This expansion is an important step in the Company’s preparation for our new mines entering production. The mine design at Zafar is well advanced and production will commence in H2 2023. This increase in production capacity is a critical part in enabling Anglo Asian to achieve mid-tier production status in due course.”

Details of the expansion of the flotation plant

Anglo Asian Mining flotation plant opened in 2015 to produce copper concentrate as the Company was mining ore with increasing amounts of copper. The flotation plant is located at its Gedabek site, next to its agitation leaching plant. The plant currently contains six 50 cubic metre rougher/scavenger cells and twelve 5 cubic metre cleaner cells, a thickener and a filter press. The plant is fed ore crushed by a dedicated SAG mill and ball mill combination.

Maelgwyn Mineral Services will supply an additional three rougher/scavenger cells and four cleaner cells. They use “Imhoflot” pneumatic flotation technology, which requires less energy and offers better recoveries than traditional tank cells and flotation columns. The cost of the new cells including instrumentation and spares is approximately $1 million.

One Imhoflot cell has been under test at Gedabek since April 2022 and it has produced excellent results. The additional flotation line will increase the flexibility of the plant and enable the production of an intermediate copper concentrate, followed by a final zinc concentrate as a by-product.

The crushing circuit of the current agitation leaching plant will be used to provide the additional crushing capacity required for the expanded flotation plant.

Yon İç Ve Dış Ticaret Pazarlama Limited Şirketih (a Turkish contractor) will supply a new thickener and filter press for the new flotation line at a cost of approximately $0.5 million. The only additional equipment required to complete the installation will be pumps, electrical panels and some minor ancillary items. The building housing the existing flotation line will also require some modification, but no increase in size.